Related Japanese Export Lacquer Objects in the V&A Collections

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Copyright Victoria and Albert Museum

Miniature Casket, Japan - 小箱、日本製

Miniature Casket
Japan
1630-1640
Museum no. FE.63-1997

小箱
日本製
1630-1640年
館蔵番号FE.63-1997

In both shape and size, this casket is very similar to wedding caskets popular in the Netherlands during the seventeenth century. Usually made of expensive materials such as silver, and often filled with coins, they would be offered by a young man to his prospective bride. The high quality, not to mention rarity, of this lacquer version of such a casket suggests that it was commissioned from Holland or by a Dutch official working in the Dutch East Indies. While no evidence to support this has come to light, it is not unreasonable to speculate that it was made for the wedding of Maria and Antonio van Diemen in 1630, or that of Pieternella Buijs and Philips Lucasz in 1634.